IT’S NOW OR NEVER FOR REPARATIONS
By C. C. Campbell-Rock
As we enter the third week since George Perry Floyd, Jr.’s murder, millions are still protesting around the world, carrying signs, demanding justice, and proclaiming that Black Lives Matter.
Sparked by the white supremacy-fueled murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, the calls for justice is not new.
What is new is that people all over the world are shook; woke in a way that has propelled the civil rights movement of the 20th century into a 21st century version that is multiracial, multicultural, and worldwide.
One would think that police, nationwide, would hear the cries for justice and become more responsible and accountable in the wake of protests worldwide.
But no…while justice seekers continue protesting, the murders have continued. On June 1, David McAtee, the black owner of YaYa’s, a barbeque eatery in Louisville was shot by cops, who claimed McAtee shot at them first. However, after watching the video, McAtee’s mother, Odessa McAtee, said he had nothing in his hands. “I just want justice my son,” she said.
Then on June 12, police shot Rayshard Brooks in the back twice, killing him after they were summoned because he was asleep in his car in the Wendy’s drive-thru lane in Atlanta, Georgia.
But this time, there will be no sweeping under the rug of the longstanding tradition of murdering unarmed black people. This time, there will be no coddling of cops or white supremacists, no flimsy excuses accepted, no back to business as usual.
Next week’s issue of The New Yorker features an interactive cover entitled “Say Their Names” by Kadir Nelson that filmmaker/activist Ava DuVernay on Sunday called a “heartbreaker.” There, for all to see, are the faces of black people killed by cops and white supremacists, who clearly view black people as expendable, valueless, inconsequential.
Nelson is a Los Angeles–based painter, illustrator, and author who is best known for his paintings often featured on the covers of The New Yorker magazine, and album covers for Michael Jackson and Drake. His work is focused on African American culture and history.
Ironically, Nelson is 46-years-old, the same age as George Floyd was when he was murdered by former cop Derek Chauvin.
The continuous protests may be a harbinger of what is to come. Clearly, it is now or never for justice proponents to exact systemic changes to the institutional racism that has plagued black community in the U.S. and abroad.
To that end, changes are being made, laws written, and monuments to white supremacy are coming down.
In Washington D.C., on June 8, 2020, Democrats introduced the Justice in Policing Act to end excessive use of force by police and make it easier to identify, track, and prosecute police misconduct at the U.S. https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2020/06/JUST_POLICE_xml-HWM.pdf
And, as usual, when action is taken to assist and protect African-Americans, black tokens are pushed into the limelight to naysay and back up the white neo-cons’ opposition to equality and justice.
This time it’s Republican Senator Timothy Eugene Scott (R-S.C.), who not only covered for Trump’s decision to have a rally on Juneteenth In Tulsa (“He didn’t know the significance of Tulsa and Juneteenth,” Scott said), but he also backed up Trump’s desire not to tamper with qualified immunity for cops.
Scott told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that lending qualified immunity for police officers is “off the table” for Republicans, and that “any poison pill in legislation means we get nothing done.”
Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine in United States federal law that shields government officials from being sued for discretionary actions performed within their official capacity unless their actions violated “clearly established” federal law or constitutional rights.
“That doctrine has become one of the chief ways in which law enforcement avoids accountability for misconduct,” according to a 2019 statement on appeal.org. Qualified immunity permits law enforcement and other government officials to violate people’s constitutional rights with virtual impunity. Today, we hear about police shooting after police shooting where officers are rarely if ever held accountable by the criminal legal system, either because prosecutors decline to charge, because grand juries decline to indict, or because juries decline to convict.” https://theappeal.org/qualified-immunity-explained/
Trump’s desire to retain qualified immunity, along with the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 8, decision to not review the qualified immunity doctrine, is a sure sign that the policy will be stricken from the Dems bill, if McConnell even allows a vote on the Dems’ bill in the Senate. So, the doctrine will probably remain in place. Never mind that taxpayers have had to foot the bill for police misconduct in the U.S. to the tune of $800 million dollars in civil lawsuit settlements.
What civil rights proponents can’t do, however, is to be distracted from the larger task of securing justice; once and for all. Black people are facing bigger challenges than just the qualified immunity doctrine. Discrimination in jobs, housing, lending, and healthcare are just a few.
There is only one remedy for it all. That America pays for its original sin of slavery, legal segregation, and 21st century discrimination.
In other words, it’s now or never for Reparations.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, an investigative reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and creator of “The 1619 Project,” for which she won a Pulitzer Prize, made the case recently for reparations.
Hannah-Jones, a 2017 MacArthur Fellow and co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, a mentorship and training program dedicated to elevating journalists of color, said of the 1619 Project, “I don’t think you can come away from it without understanding the project is an argument for reparations. You can’t read it and not understand that something is owed,” but, “If we understand that the legacy (of slavery) is alive right now and that so much of the conditions of black Americans can be traced to that legacy, then what do we actually owe? What is the restitution that is owed?” Jones told the Chicago Tribune in 2019.
Internationally acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article in June 2014 issue of the Atlantic, entitled,
The Case for Reparations is an in-depth analysis of why reparations are owed. https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/361631/
“Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.,” Coates writes.
Testifying before the U.S. Congressional Hearing on Reparations in Washington D.C, in summer 2019, Coates told US Congressional leaders that many of the inequities created by American slavery and segregation persist today, including economic disparities. ”The wealth of the typical Black family has 1/10 of the wealth of a typical White family,” Bashir Muhammad Akinyele, quoted Coates on patch.com.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/newarknj/us-presidential-politics-black-leadership-repatriation
As the struggle continues and protesters make the case that Black Lives Matter, the playing field will never be leveled until reparations are paid.
NOPD CHIEF SAYS TO THE SLEEPING? We “Constitutionally Police”? Really…
LBRC- What would we do if we were an NOPD Chief of Police, regarding “Constitutional Petitioners/ Protestors?
1. We’d tell every group we encounter-
a. We know most and the majority of you are not criminals. You have the right to exercise your Bill of Rights (This is assuming Chief Knows Them?).
b. We would prefer you not to endanger yourself or your children, all of us love our kids and are New Orleanians, some came here to support you who are not criminals either. Our intelligence reports say, a few are here to sabotage what you want to accomplish “Peacefully”. We will protect you and remove or arrest those who are here to tarnish your objective! We are determined to especially protect our children!!! I’m a father and you know this.
c. If you decide to proceed, please be careful. As much as we can, we’ll do as much as law allows to guard your rights and keep You “Safe” from Harm!
d. All of you are citizens, mostly from Orleans Parish. The Constitution says you are a “Citizen” of The United States, State of Louisiana and “Orleans Parish”-
Amendment XIV- (Hey Chief, Do you know?) Section 1.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
e. Therefore Chief- Are you committed to “Protect Citizens” no matter where, even in Jefferson Parish or any other contiguous with Orleans! You “Cross Deputized” officers in Orleans and Jefferson Parish. Jefferson pursues individuals who crosses Parish Lines.
f. We will not allow “Our Citizens” to be abused no matter where they are and expect other Parishes to reciprocate in terms of mutual “Constitutional” respect! When we see our Citizens being obviously abused by outside authorities, “WE WILL NOT BE SILENT” and will address this issue with our neighbors! A “Prerequisite” for “Cross Deputizing” with Parishes is “Mutual Respect” for Citizens in each Parish! Disrespect of Citizens voids “Mutual Respect” and obviously “Cooperation is then Corrupted”!
2. Why wouldn’t a Chief who claims to love his fellow Citizens say or do this?
a. He/She feels more obligated to others who wear a badge?
b. He/She wants to keep some options open with respect to…?
c. He/She is just ‘Stuntun and ‘Frontun at about $200K annually, about their commitment to real “Public Service”?
d. He/She is a “Meat Head” and if Dinosaurs were here?
3. Real Public Servants think “Protection and- Service” regardless pay! They are polite because they realize who foots “All” the bills! Even criminals pay some taxes! If you’re #45, you “Brag” about not paying taxes, refused to serve in the military, then proclaim Citizens with “No Criminal Record” to be thugs, and KKK Murdering Racist with Torches to start fires aka “Weapons”- “Very Fine People”!
3. Any “Meat Head” can start a fight or instigate unintended results! To them, policing is a “Linear” process. Their limited intellectual capacity and limitless ambition have yielded them in their view- “Very Fine Results” and most have been promoted “to the level of their incompetency”! It’s not a crime not to know, the “Crime” is to lie when you did but got caught in your contradictions! “Fools believe others to be what they themselves manifest”! There is “1” who is never deceived though we are often! YOU WILL REAP!!!
btw- How do you “Claim” to “Constitutionally Police” when you are ignorant of The Constitution”? Does Chief know The Constitution? “No Knock Warrants” violate The 4th Amendment- “Amendment IV- The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. /end/ Duh…?
2nd btw- Citizens of The U.S. are Citizens “Everywhere” in it!!! Hey Chief- This means when Citizens cross Parish Lines- Passports are not required and neither does travel diminishes their Bill of Rights or any right under The Constitution- “Bull Conner felt Blacks did exactly this”! Chief calls some outsiders? WTF aka “What the Fraud”!!! Sometimes, “It is ‘Betta to keep mouth shut and be thought, then to open it and…”! Is ‘Dis ‘Thang on…???
3rd btw- Amendment XIV, Section 1.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Duh…???
Peace Out…
We are in no way ‘Ignants and in no way ‘Simps and say…
LBRC- Not only were we there and saw it “1st Person” aka Desire Project aka 3547 Florida Ave. Apt. B, and before moving on from Carver Jr. High to McDonogh #35-
1. The U.S. Constitution is the “Supreme” Law of The Land aka in the U.S.!!! Definition of “Supreme” aka “Voids All Others”!!!
2. The 10th Amendment is an “Amendment” subject to other “Amendments” in perpetuity!!! “Voting” is imperative!!!
3. Therefore and until subsequent “Amendments” are activated by virtue of 3/4 of States and their Legislatures, the “Constitution” is the guiding “Force of Supreme Law”!!!
4. De Facto- “States Do not have Rights The Constitution says they do not”!!! Granted Latitude- But only with the “Consent” of “Supreme Law”!
5. What about “Interposition and Nullification” is relevant to what is “Supreme” Law? Ans. SCOTUS in “Theory” was intended to be an interpreter! What is so “Corrupted” about SCOTUS in 2020 is “Conservative vs Liberal”, the “Paradigm”? Roberts et al, are a “Mutation” and “Facsimile” of what Founders intended to be “Impartial”! Witness the “Trump” impeachment whereby additional evidence and witnesses are voided in the interest of “Partisan Justice” played out before our very eyes- “Nationally and Internationally” aka most of the world is literate but most of the U.S.? Check international rankings via “Education”!!! Trump is an ‘ignant Covid Deep 6 Science Appalachian Mold void Scientific Scrutiny and Observations, a “Proven” False Hypothesis!!!
6. The Emancipation Proclamation “Freed” Slaves in states in “Rebellion” and “Implied” in states not! Neo Negroes push the “Narrative” DeJure but not De Facto!!!
7. As for Juneteenth? It freed so- called “Enslaved” in areas controlled by “Traitors” to the pact in which they agreed aka “Article VI” aka “Articles of Ratification” to the “Constitution”!!! Any actions void these agreements constitutes “Constitution Treason” as per the “Constitution”!!! Who comprehends this? Ans. From the Out House to the White House aka “The Truly Literate”!!! is ‘Dis ‘Thang on…???
Hello Somebody and Peace Out…
The mistreatment that started for Native Americans in 1492 spread to the black slaves in 1619.
European colonization of the Americas, which began in 1492, resulted in a large decline in Native American population through introduced diseases as well as warfare, ethnic cleansing, and slavery.
The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) ended slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) guaranteed African Americans the rights of American citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) guaranteed black men the constitutional right to vote.
Native Americans couldn’t be U.S. citizens when the country ratified its Constitution in 1788, and wouldn’t win the right to be for 136 years. When black Americans won citizenship with the 14th Amendment in 1868, the government specifically interpreted the law so it didn’t apply to Native people
Native Americans did not get citizenship until The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States.
Native Americans were only able to win the right to vote by fighting for it state by state. The last state to fully guarantee voting rights for Native people was Utah in 1962. Despite these victories, Native people were still prevented from voting with poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation—the same tactics used against black voters.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped strengthen the voting rights that Native people had won in every state. However, the act is no longer fully intact. In 2013, the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder dismantled one of its key provisions, which required that states with history of racial bias in voting get permission before passing new voting laws. Just before the 2018 midterm elections, North Dakota’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of a new voting requirement that may prevent hundreds of Native residents from voting.
This does not even reflect all the ongoing mistreatment and targeting. Yet all I hear is of reparation for blacks. What about reparation for Native Americans? That would start with removal of statues, street names and changes to laws that are for white and blacks but exclude the Native American.
We ‘luv writers like you and Jordan who really “Keep it Real”!!! Btw-…
LBRC- So- called Liberal Whites say- “I’m not a Racist”, but what do studies say? Studies say ‘Dat most Whites are for “Integration” as long as it doesn’t mean more than 2- 3 % of Blacks in a majority White Community!!! Hello? Is ‘Dis ‘Thang on?
YouTube Title- “The State of Black America 150 Years After Emancipation”- Dr. William A. Darity and Darrick Hamilton, or…
Go Here>>>
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0TvCTBsMbJI
btw- Negroes in New Orleans and elsewhere fantasize and say- “We were different” aka not as Brutal? Sadly, we go back to an SNL skit aka “Jane you ignorant Slut”- notwithstanding a Louisiana “Massacres” like “Colfax Massacre”!!!